Brave new digital classroom: Technology and foreign language learning (review)

In Brave New Digital Classroom, Robert Blake provides a summary of research into technology and language acquisition. The book is divided into six chapters: an overview, the use of Web pages in the service of L2 learning, computer-assisted language learning and its evaluation, computer-mediated communication, distance learning, and a summary. It is written from the perspective that 'in language learning, no particular technology is superior to any other tool; it's all in the way the activities are implemented so as to engage and foster the student's own sense of agency' (p. xiv).

In chapter 1, Blake starts by dispelling the myth that technology itself presents a methodology. He provides examples of pedagogical planning with technology and brings focus on form into play in this context. Blake argues that technology, in particular social media such as e-mail, chat, wikis, and Skype, provides a vehicle for students to collaborate over specific tasks with both non-native and native speakers. In such collaboration, the teacher can draw their attention to the sources of their linguistic confusion by providing feedback and/or well-designed tasks. Consequently, Blake concludes, students will begin analyzing their own language.

In chapter 2, Blake refers to a recent conference paper in which the presenter claimed to use authentic material to teach grammar in context. This was achieved by showing a video clip (the Spanish subjunctive was used in a movie sequence), linking photos and graphics from the Web and adding sound files by native speakers, and having students do a fill-in-the-blanks exercise. Blake makes the point that while there is nothing wrong with this approach, a general problem with technology is that it is often not used to its potential. Blake argues that an instructor needs to do more than simply use technology to focus students' attention on form. Unfortunately, he does not provide any example of how to do so until chapter 4, when he talks about the Cultura Project.

In chapter 3, Blake writes about the challenges of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and its evaluation. The first challenge is to develop systems that can give feedback to the learner, often called I-CALL (intelligent computer-assisted language learning). Much work in this area has been carried out by Matthias Schulze at the University of Waterloo and Trude Heift at Simon Fraser University. They focus on parser-based analysis, which provides feedback on morphosyntactic errors. Heift (2004) has shown that the more explicit and metalinguistic the feedback is from the E-Tutor (an online program developed for German language study), the more likely L2 learners are to complete their tasks successfully. The second challenge is to evaluate CALL material in terms of its pedagogical value. In this context, Blake criticizes checklists and surveys as being too restrictive as instruments of measure. Instead he argues for an eclectic approach that takes into account the dynamics of the teacher–software–learner triangle. Again, however, he delays providing an example of how this can be achieved in praxis.

In chapter 4, Blake presents social media such as e-mail, chat, wiki, and Skype. He argues that much of what students need to understand about sociolinguistic markers and morphosyntactic structures is rooted in an understanding of the culture of the target language. The question is how to utilize technology to bridge this gap. Blake gives the example of the Cultura Project, developed at MIT in the 1990s. Students in the United States and France were given questionnaires related to cultural values (such as, What do you associate with the word 'freedom'?). Each group filled out the questionnaires in their own language. The answers were discussed by each group with their teachers, who provided additional material such as articles or opinion polls. Next, the students from the two groups met online and discussed their findings. Both sets of teachers provided more material such as films, and the discussion, which was bilingual, deepened. In the...